Italian flowers'
by Zara Saritza
Summary: RE-WRITE, RE-WRITTEN! Hermiones has never experienced a worse valentines day, Ron cheated on her and Draco Malfoy will not stop taking the piss. At least, she thinks he's taking the piss... EWE. POST WAR.  ZS#LH
1. Valentines Day

Chapter One:  
Hermione had never liked valentines day. Not because she never got anything, she had recieved her fair share of cards and chocolates and some... flowers in her time.  
But, that was her problem with it.

Flowers.

Flowers were very personal, you know? Every girl has her favourite kind of flower, whether it be red roses or white lillies. The smell of them or the shape or the colour is what draws them to you, that makes you smile. So, when hermione recieves flowers that arent her favourites, it irritates her. ESPECIALLY when she had put an awful lot of  
emphasis on her favourite flowers to the person she recieved the roses off.

Now, Hermione was a clever girl, she realizes that roses are awfully expensive, and quite frankly, you could get twice as many of her favourite flowers than you could roses.

It wasnt too much to ask was it? She knew that she had mentioned her favourite flowers more than once. Perhaps Ron wasnt listening, ofcourse not. He was too busy paying attention to whatever Harry was saying about quidditch. The fact that his girlfriend was giving clues about what she wanted for valentines day didn't matter, and this wasn't just her being selfish, Ron had made it quite clear that he wanted new keepers gloves from a private shop in diagon alley, (and they weren't cheap either.) 45 galleons! She had saved all her birthday money and lent some of her parents to pay for them.

Yet here she was, thanking the house elf that brought the roses to her room and plastering a silly fake smile on her face, as she would when she thanked Ron for them later.

But that didn't stop the niggling feeling of disappointment at the bottom of her stomach. She thought Ron cared, but the more she thought about it, the more she remembered the looks Ron had been giving Lavender Brown. She knew Lavender still loved him, she just wasn't sure if Ron still loved her. In all fairness, Lavender was very pretty, her hair had gone from frizzy blonde, to sleek curls, her curves had matured, giving her an hour glass figure, and her breasts had swelled to a size 34DD. Hermione was jealous to say the least, Lavender was perfect, to be fair, she couldn't blame Ron's eyes for wandering.

Hermione's eyes began to sting with silent tears at the thought of him cheating on her, she inwardly scolded herself. Ron wouldn't cheat, he wasn't that kind of guy.

Trust Ginny to pick now to walk right in to her dorm.

"'Mione! Whats wrong?" She ran to her side and gathered her in to a massive hug, then withdrew, staring her in the eyes intently.

"Has-ron-cheated-on-me-with-lavender-brown?" Hermione blurted before she could stop herself.

"Of-of course not! Lavender Brown is a dirty little skank. Ron only has eyes for you sweetie, why would you ask that?" She reassured her friend putting emphasis on the 'only.' But Hermione didn't trust Ginny one bit, especially the way she couldn't look her in the eye.

"Ginny, what aren't you telling me? Whats going on?" Hermione studied her best friends reaction carefully.

"I was going to tell you herm, i was i swear, but harry swore me to secrecy, and ron promised it would never happen again, and he he really loves you 'mione, he does-" she was rambling, Ginny always rambled when she was hiding something big. She felt the tears pooling in her eyes, once again. "Spit it out Ginny, what did he do?" Her voice portrayed alot more confidence than she felt inside.

Ginny sighed and looked at her friend. "Ron slept with Lavender at Semus' new year party, Oh 'mione i'm so so so sorry i didn't tell you," Ginny began to sob uncontrollably.  
Hermione closed her eyes and felt the moistness spill over her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Has it happened more than once?" Hermione whispered.

"No. But I can assure you Ron regretted it." Hermione felt broken, she asked Ginny to leave, then fell back on her pillows, she let out the body shaking sobs thats she'd been holding when Ginny was with her.

Rons betrayal richocheted around her heart, smashing it in to an infinite amount of pieces. Today was valentines day, how could she find this out on valentines day? A knock on the door shocked her out of her thoughts. She crawled of the bed and wiped her eyes, she sniffed in and composed herself, taking a deep breath, she opened the door, only to let it out in a gasp.

She couldn't see the house elf that carried the flowers, she couldnt even make her mouth work to thank him as she took the flowers from his weighed down arms. So she nodded 'thanks' and hurried back inside. She placed the flowers on her dresser then stepped back to admire them. They were beautiful to say the least.

Italian grown purple tulips. Her favourite flower. They were wrapped in a midnight blue ribbon and a spell had clearly been put on them to intensify and spread the smell, already she could smell the sweet intoxication that she recognized from her childhood, picking them with her mother when they visited the holiday home in Italy.

Before she got that letter. Before she learnt of her magic. Before she got involved in the war... Before she met Ron.

Ron? Did Ron get her these flowers? The smile that had spread across her lips dropped and turned in to a look of confusion, no, Ron got her the roses, he's not cheap, but he would only get her one bunch of flowers, no matter how much she spent on him. She reached forward for the card that hung from a thinner strip of ribbon, funny, the card was green. Slytherin green!

"Huh," she sounded her confusion then read the note inside the card...

'A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.'  
DM.

Dm? DRACO MALFOY? No no no, no there were plenty of boys in slytherin and of course she was just assuming that this boy was in slytherin because the card was green. She was assuming it was a boy, oh no, it must be a boy.  
DM? dmdmdmdmdm...  
Darren Myles?  
2nd year hufflepuff?  
Dean Menforth?  
Ravenclaw 3rd year?

She couldn't for the life of her think of another boy with the initials DM in slytherin. If this was Malfoy, this was a joke. Ofcourse it was. That was the way he and his little band of followers thought right?

Her brain began to spin, what a cruel joke. Hermione's eyes began to fill with tears again. How dare he? That stupid ferret! How dare he treat her like this on Valentines Day?

* * *

So this is the first chapter of the re-write, what do y'all think? Those of you who read the previous version- your comments would be good, and new readers- REVIEW!  
None of this would've been possible with out my amazing Beta Reader livi harkness, she's wicked!

~ZS#LH~

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	2. Unexpected Visit, Unexpected Answers

Well that was it, Hermione was going to throw these at him. Making sure to catch his eyes and get them in his mouth, anything to cause the blonde piece of shit some discomfort. Some pain. She practically ran to the dungeons. luckily, the head boy had seperate quarters to the rest of the slytherins , so she could fuck him up without embarassing herself.

She passed the bloody barron, asking for directions to Malfoy's dorm, saying it was 'head boy' business. Being head girl meant she could play that card. She stormed to the portrait that concealed the entrance. It was an incredibly handsome centaur, who bowed when she approached.

Now would be the time to switch on her sweetness.  
"Oh, I am dreadfully sorry to disturb you, but would it be possible to speak to the head boy? I'm head girl you-"

"Head girl you say? My Draco does nothing but talk about you my dear! Go right on in!"

Malfoy talked about her? She could of done with out the extra confusion, her head wasn't in the right place for it at that precise moment. She stepped forward in to a lushious dark green common room, that was much like her own. Except, hers was ruby red.

She leant on his couch and took a deep breath in for support.  
"DRACO MALFOY GET YOUR SLEEZY ARSE DOWN THESE STAIRS NOW! YOU, STUPID, PIECE OF SHIT!"

Now, Hermione didn't usually swear, but she was very glad she picked now to start. She heard, clumsy, footsteps then saw his bedroom door open at the top of the stairs. He proceeded to stalk down the stairs, a look of both confusion and anger on his face, he scowled as he reached the bottom. His hair was toussled and the top two buttons of his black shirt were undone, revealing his pale collar bone and neck, it was enough to make Hermione blush. Looks like she woke him up. 'Good' she thought.

"What the actual hell Granger? I was SLEEPING-" he eyed the flowers that hung loosly in her left hand, almost forgotten. "-Oh."

He looked at his feet and she could of sworn she saw a hint of a blush on his alabaster cheeks. "Look Malfoy, I'm not gonna scream and shout, but today of all days I am not in the mood for your shit. This is really pathetic. Even for you, this is the most foul joke you have ever played-"

"Joke?" He asked confused.

"Yes Malfoy, joke, a joke, a joke that wasn't in the least bit funny!" She declared waving the flowers in his face before discarding them down on the sofa.

"Granger, do you have any idea how much everlasting italian purple tulips cost? Or the rarety of the centaur hair that the ribbon is woven from? Or the difficulty of the spell that had to be performed to get the ribbon to be the exact colour of the midnight sky?"

For once in her life, Hermione was... Silent. She couldn't think of a thing to say. The passion that radiated from his voice as he spoke about the ribbon and the flowers made her frown. Something did not add up, in his eyes she was a... a mudblood, not a pureblood whom he was allowed to associate with. Why the hell would he buy her flowers? A 'filthy little mudblood' who couldnt keep the likes of Ronald Weasley faithful to her? A mudblood who's friends kept things from her, lied to her. It was all too much, the emotions mounted and she let out an almightly sob, and before she knew it, she was sat on the floor crying her heart out. Her, Hermione Jean Granger crying infront of Draco Malfoy, the biggest jerk of all, she was never going to hear the end of it.

~Draco~

Draco Malfoy was head boy, and as head boy he believed that at 4 on a Saturday, if he was still knackered from Friday nights party in the slytherin common room, then he deserved to be left in peace to catch up on sleep. You can imagine then he was not best pleased when at 4:10 he was rather rudely awoken by shouting in HIS common room, being head boy he also believed that his space should be just that, his and his alone, it should not be occupied by anyone but him! Well him, and whoever he may be entertaining, whether that be women or his friends or Pansy, only when they were invited did they ever come in here.

He got up groaning from his bed, he had no idea who was swearing at him, but he was gonna whip their arse for waking him up. But, he didnt, because Hermione Granger was stood in his common room, breathing a little deeply from walking, moving her breasts noticably, her cheeks tinted more pink than usual, she must of been walking pretty fast, he had barely ever seen her break a sweat, even when running when she was late for class she always looked so controlled. So, fit.

Now he studied her more though, he noticed the slight redness of her eyes, her hair looked like it had been raked through by her hands at least 50 times, which is what she did when she was nervous, or upset. But now was not the time to tell her, now was the time to act like Malfoy. A jerk. Not Draco, possible friend.

And then he remembered the flowers, and vaguley heard the word joke. JOKE? she clearly didn't have any idea how many favours he had to claim to make them so stunning. How much he had to pay. 200 galleons, just for that bloody ribbon! Never mind the flowers that last FOREVER that can only be bought in a remote part of italy, well cheap versions could be bought for 5 galleons in diagon alley, but Draco Malfoy did not do cheap.

He told her, and her smile, jeez, her smile radiated through him like sunlight, just for a second though, then it was blurred with confusion, sadness and then... tears? Oh no this was NOT part of the plan, make her like him, he thought she would be... surprised yes but, grateful, happy... impressed even with the flowers. Sobbing Hermione, he did not expect.

"Jeez Granger, I can take them back if you don't like them" Of course he couldnt take them back, why would EVERLASTING flowers be refundable?

"Its just I heard you telling Weasel that they were you favourite and with midnight blue being your favourite colour and all, I thought the ribbon would suit, I just assumed you'd like them," Actually, he assumed she'd love them and come bounding in to snog the life out of him and possibly more. He ran a hand through his already messy hair, why did she have to come now? When he looked like shit? He was flustered, crying girls scared him witless, but someone as strong as this, crying? It was enough to give him nightmares.

Oh god, why couldn't she just be happy that he took time to notice her favourite things and try to make today nice for her? God know's Weasel has probably screwed it up already. At this point she looked up at him, eyes still swimming with tears, brow furrowed in confusion,

"Okay, I get you probably heard me tell Ron about the tulips. I told him numerous times. -Not that he paid attention- but, how did you know midnight blue was my favourite colour. Because, I have only told a hand full of people midnight blue is my favourite colour because-"

"Because you're scared they will buy you things of that colour which you wouldn't wear because you don't think it suits your eyes or skintone." He finished her sentence and she looked up at him, completely dumbfounded with a look of pure shock on her face.

"You moan to much granger, how 'bout a thank you for the flowers?" she shook her head.

"Thank you for the flowers malfoy. But, how did you KNOW THAT?" He kicked something invisible, on the floor, maybe if he ignored the question she would forge-

"Malfoy...?" Bugger. He mumbled something, making sure she didn't hear it.

"Quit mumbling, how did you know?"

fuck it. "You told Lavender, who told Ginny, who told Blaise, who told me."

'damn it,' he mentally cursed. She didn't know that Ginny was seeing Blaise...

"Why did GINNY WEASLEY of Gryffindor tell BLAISE ZABINI of Slytherin?" The look of innocent confusion in her eyes almost made him laugh, he wiggled my eyebrows at her...

"OH! Why didn't Ginny tell me? I'll be having a word when I get back to the tower..." She was more talking to herself by this point, so he switched off. 3mins ago

He just watched the way her mouth moved when she talked, the slight dimple in her left cheek, the way she chewed her lip when she was thinking...

"Malfoy?"

shit, what did she say? "Hmmm?"

"Why would you ask Zabini to find that out for you?" It was more of a statement to herself, but he answered anyway.

He liked the way she smiled when she hinted that he cared.

"Because i err-" he mumbled '...want to be friends' under his breath but he knew she heard, a quirk of a smile crossed her lips, she then pressed them together, stiffleing a giggle. Not for long though, she burst out in to a big grin and began laughing her head off. The way she laughed made him smile, the way her grin was a little bit too toothy, but she suited it, and soon he was laughing right along with her. Then he remembered something,

"Herrrr- Granger? Why were you crying?" Hermione closed her eyes and the laughter abruptly stopped. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, her mouth opened, and moved as if she was speaking, but what she was saying was barely audiable.

"Now who's mumbling?" He whispered humourlessly, sitting down cross legged across from her. She gave him a sad smile.

"Ron, he cheated on me with... with Lavender Brown, I only found out today. And it happened at New Year." She let out a sigh.

The Weasel did WHAT? He knew he would fuck up in some way, somehow, but fuck that-that- skank? She's not even the slightest bit beautiful, not pretty, just a slut who flashes the right amount clevage to get the wrong kind of attention.

His mouth opened in shock, then closed in anger. "I always hated him." the smile re-appeared on her lips.

"NEVER!" the sarcasm was humourous, a glint of a challenge glowed in her eyes. That brought his signature smirk to his mouth.

"Was it really that obvious? Damn. As if he did that, on valentines day. After sending you your favourite flowers...? Bad move!"

"Oh, Ron didnt send me purple tulips, he sent me red roses. Tag still attatched. 3 galleons." The confusion his face made her smile even broader.

"But I heard you tell him, that's how I knew...? I mean I knew he wouldn't spend mega gold on them, or get you everlasting ones-"

She gasped. "They really are everlasting?" She asked cutting him off.

"Only the best. I am a Malfoy." That snapped her to her senses.

"Yes, you are a Malfoy. What's with the sudden personality change? The war might be over, but you should still hate me, I am a mudblood after all-"

"Don't use that word, 'mudblood' implys dirt, filth, I have never seen someone less deserving of that title in my life. Weasel on the other hand... You are the smartest person I know and I have come to realize that we are not majorly different, you and I. I want to propose a truce, just with you though, not with the ginger half wit or scar face. I also want to apologize. I have been an awful person to you, my behavior during the war was unacceptable. I was a complete jerk, can you forgive me?"

She contemplated it for a moment then smiled up at him shyly. "If I accept your apology, are Crabbe and Goyle gonna jump out and start laughing?"

"No, if you forgive me we have a clean slate."

"Then you are forgiven." Draco had never felt so over joyed in his life, she forgave him just like that.

Now it was him who was scared someone was gonna jump out and start laughing, he laughed out loud at his own foolishness, "Hi, I'm draco malfoy." She took his extended hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you Draco, i'm Hermione Granger, but please, call me 'mione."

"'Mione? Yea I might just do that."

* * *

Second Chapter Rewrite - DONE!

Again, thank you livi harkness m'lovie, not possible with out youuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

REVIEW!

~ZS#LH~

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	3. Putting Wrongs, Right

Chapter 3

Hermione struggled to concentrate on the way back to her chambers, this whole day had been... Well... Interesting, to say the least.

First cheating Ron and his AWFUL roses. Then Malfoy. With her favourite tulips and promises of friendship.

"'MIONE! Merlin, i've been looking for you EVERYWHERE!" Rons face was red, his breath came out in shallow pants as if he had been running, she inwardly cringed, he looked like a dog.

"We need to talk." she laughed. She'd heard of guys wanting to keep their 'dignity' and so they dumped the partner before she could dump them, extreamly shallow really. Well, she didn't plan on giving Ron the satisfaction. She had a plan.

"So, have you talked to Ginny at all today?" He acted nonchalant, but the way his eyes shifted around revealed his discomfort. She placed a confused look on her face and stepped towards him.

"No why? Did she want to speak with me?" She played with his tie, looking up under her lashes innocently.

"NO! Erm no, I was just wondering," he smiled at her sheepishly, it made her want to throw up, he looked almost... smug. 'Don't loose it now Hermione, now is not the time to loose your temper, be cool, you'll get him back soon enough.'

"Oh, that's good, because I was thinking of something that we could do tonight, and well I thought you could stay in my room tonight, if you catch my meaning." She was trying her hardest to be sexy, bitting her lip and smirking up at him, attempting to look seductive, and by the look on his face, it was working. She waited for his response, she let out her breath when he relaxed and grinned at her. The plan was working.

"Oh great m-mione, err, should I get some pj's?"

"If you want, though I can't imagine what you are going to need them for though." she winked up at him and slipped her hand in to his.

"Mmmmm, great! I learnt this knew contraceptive spell off Semus the other day..." she faked confusion, and further plans soon formulated, she smirked a very slytherin like smirk-worthy of the slytherin prince himself.

"Why did Lavender tell you I was gonna ask you to sleep with me today?" He flinched a little at Lavenders name, but kept-what he thought was-his cool.

"Yea, I only saw her for like a minute this afternoon, she gave me the heads up, when, err, when did you tell her?" Crap, what time would they of not been together? She was pretty sure this wasn't just a one time thing. Wait, he had Quidditch practice last night, ah, perfect.

"Last night, I was coming to support you at Quidditch practice and I bumped in to her and we ended up having a catch up, she really is great, I should talk to her more often" if Ron was smart, if he owned ONE brain cell he would know that she was lying. Hermione HATED Quidditch and had refused to come and see him play for months, but that goofy smile of I've-got-away-with-it remained on his face. All was still going to plan. He dragged her eagerly to the Gryffindor tower, which was packed. Perfect. After entering the portrait whole, hermione plastered a fake grin of happiness on her face, even though Rons sweaty hand was irritating her. The way it held her hand was forced, it didn't feel right at all. It almost... Didn't fit. She walked right into the centre of the room and caught Ginny's confused eye, but she shook her head smirking and Ginny looked away.

"I'll be back in a minute," Ron whispered in to her ear. She shivered in what he must of thought to be antisipation, but it was disgust, she couldn't wait to humiliate him.

"Don't be long," she winked at him, damn she should win one of those muggle oscar things for this performance. He literally sprinted faster than she had ever seen him sprint to his bedroom. This was gonna be fun. Ginny walked over to her, readying herself to say some thing by the looks of it, but Hermione stopped her in her tracks with a look of I-Know-What-I'm-Doing-Don't-Get-involved. At that exact minute, a flash of red descended down the stairs and Ron appeared at her side.

"Ready 'Mione?"

"Oh Ron, you have no idea," she smirked again and stood on the nearest thing to her, a chair.

"EXCUSE ME EVERBODY," the chatter faded down, and eventually everyone was looking at Hermione expectantly.

"I have something to say- Not to air my dirty laundry in public or anything- but this is something I feel should be shared with E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y. Ron Weasley, you are DUMPED. You cheating sleeze ball. You can now fuck that whore whenever you want, speaking of, is LAVENDER BROWN here? LAVENDER BROWN? Oh, there you are! Come on forward and claim your prize you skank! You have won a love rat with the tiny prick, CONGRATULATIONS! I would just like to thank everyone for listening and spread at your will. Gossip as much as you like, Hermione Granger, Dumper. Ron Weasley, Dumpee. Hermione dumped ron, everyone understand! Good," and with that, she turned to face Ron, who's face had drained of all colour and had began to sweat, and send an almighty slap across his cheek. Then she smiled, she had managed to keep her dignity and completely stripped Ron of any he had left, same with Lavender. She grinned even wider when they ran out of the room, Lavender crying. Everyone in the common room was applauding her. She smiled and gave a little bow, then she walked out of the room with her head held high. She wore the biggest grin anyone had ever seen her wear.

The next day...

~Draco~

"DUDE! Have you heard?" Blaise Zabini sauntered up to the popular end of the slytherin table, which basically meant ex-death eaters and prime sluts. He took his seat at the very top between Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who wasn't pleased with the change in the seating arrangements, Draco, on the other hand, looked relieved.

"Nope, care to enlighten me?" Blaise gestured his head to the other corner of the slytherin table, where they usually went to talk about Hermione-related-stuff that he didnt want over heard by people who would spread it. The other end of the slytherin table consisted of the first years who were FAR too scared of Draco to tell anyone bad stuff about him, therefore this was the perfect place to talk about the gryffindor princess.

"Out with it, what's going on now?" Draco could barely control the excitement in his voice, he knew him and hermione had a long way to go, but she forgave him yesterday. FORGAVE HIM, they were definitely on the right track.

"So, Hermione dumped Ron in front of the whole gryffindor common room, saying he had a tiny knob and EVERYTHING. She slapped him across the face and had him and Lavender Brown RUNNING out of the common room and staying away for the whole night because they were scared of what the rest of the house would do to them, and EVEN BETTER Snape caught them out after hours, put them in a 5 hour detention in the potions room tonight and put a spell on them so they can't speak to each other for a MONTH!" Blaise was out of breath by the end of it, but grinning from ear to ear, he did love to gossip. Draco on the other hand, was on the floor laughing.

"Oh-my fucking salazaar." He burst out laughing again. He could just imagine Hermione, slapping him. And that sent him back over the edge laughing again.

"And, she was smiling the whole way through it, like she was ENJOYING herself!" Draco stopped laughing but still smiled, he was almost.. Proud of her. Infact, fuck it, he was bloody proud of her! The Weasel had it coming to him! At that minute Weasel walked through the door, an almighty noise was heard from the Gryffindor table, it sounded like a BOO! And then, something that nearly made Draco nearly cry laughing, they all wiggled their pinky fingers at him, and said "Tiny" at different times, taunting him! That has made his whole LIFE never mind his day. Weasel blushed crimson and walked back out of the hall, smacking right in to Lavender Brown, who went to talk to him, but because of the spell, let out a cough instead. Going bright red, she kept walking towards the gryffindor table, to the top end.

Puzzling? 1min ago

See, the gryffindor table worked much like the Slytherin table, except it was ex-war heroes, not ex-death eaters that sat at the top. When Lavender stopped to sit down across from Ginny Weasely, Ginny stood up. Raising her eyebrows, she pointed to the other end of the table, where the first years sat, throwing paper balls and laughing at farts, like they do in first year. Lavender blushed and even deeper shade of crimson and looked on the brink of tears, but before she could sit down, next to a rather rowdy group of first year boys, one stood up and said, in a very clear voice for all the hall to hear:

"Errrr sorry, but do you mind moving right to the end of the table please lav, We don't wanna catch your STIs. Thanks." Lavender burst in to tears and ran out of the hall, leaving the majority of those group of first years to high 5 each other in triumph.

And one minute later? A fresh faced, smiling from ear to ear Hermione walked in to an almighty applause from, not only gryffindor, but the entire room. She took a modest little bow and took her seat, right at the very top of the Gryffindor table, next to Harry and the Ginny, who both hugged her and gave her a high five, Hermione just laughed and shook her head.

Oh yes, Draco was extreamly proud of her. "Good girl." He whispered it under his breath, but it was almost as if she heard him, her eyes scowered the slytherin table until they met his, she gave him a shy smile, as if she was afraid he might laugh at her. He held nothing back, he gave her a giant grin and a nod, to which she responded with blushing cheeks and a grin of her own.

"Today is going to be a good day," he said to Blaise, his eyes never leaving hers.

* * *

CHAPTER THREE DONE!  
livi harkness, couldnt have done it without you... again.

~ZS#LH~

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